One of the most exciting and distinctive "showpiece" projects outlined in the recently approved Concordia campus master plan is the development of the Heritage Garden (HG) area of campus. The final HG buildout will feature a native plant area, a working vegetable garden and orchard, various aesthetically pleasing plants and trees, butterfly flower gardens, a nighttime infrared wildlife viewing system, and a microscope specimen viewing system. Complementing the biological side of the HG layout will be Keck Center for Astronomy--a facility within the HG area comprised of four domes housing three research-quality computer-controlled astronomical telescopes (for nighttime viewing), one solar telescope (for daytime observations). All electrical power needed to operate the infrared wildlife viewing systems, the microscope system, and the telescopes will be provided by a "green" solar panel/battery unit. At this juncture, much preliminary work has been done in the HG area: drip irrigation lines, tree plantings, vegetable garden, bird bath, pond, etc.

Thanks to a generous grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation, all telescopes, domes, and ancillary equipment have been purchased and are presently installed in temporary sites on the Concordia campus. Funding is respectfully requested to prepare the permanent telescope site in HG (grading, leveling, trenching, dome pad concrete, etc), move the domes and telescopes to this site, and construct a small storage/electrical room in HG to service the telescopes, house the infrared and microscope viewing systems, and to acquire and install a suitable solar panel/battery unit to power all of HG. Funds are also requested to augment existing biological initiatives in HG and develop new ones: e.g., a bio fuel development station, an air pollution monitoring station, and a light pollution monitoring system.